Student Nina de Chiffre faces sexual assault charges for kissing a riot police officer

AN ITALIAN student is facing sexual assault charges for kissing a riot police officer in the middle of a protest.

Nina de Chiffre, 20, was demonstrating against the construction of a rail link in northe Italy when she came face to face with riot police. She decided to get a bit intimate with one of the officers, kissing and licking his helmet visor.

The moment was caught on camera, and the image became a symbol of peaceful protest.

Then the Italian police union filed a complaint with a court in Turin, accusing Ms de Chiffre of sexual assault, La Repubblica reports.

\"We have accused the protester of sexual violence and insulting a public official,\" said the union's general secretary, Franco Maccari.

\"If the policeman had kissed her, World War III would have broken out,\" he said. \"Or what if I had patted her on the behind? She would have been outraged. So if she does that to a man on duty, should it be tolerated?

\"A kiss is a positive thing,\" he said. \"But in this context, between these two people, it was just disrespect.\"

That sounds a bit cynical, but Ms de Chiffre's own words seem to back up Mr Maccari's argument.

\"No peace message,\" she wrote on Facebook. \"I would hang all these disgusting pigs upside down.\"

Ms de Chiffre told La Repubblica the riot police had beaten one of her fellow protesters.

\"I saw this young man in uniform and I felt pity and disgust.\"

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